Heartwood
by okija
Summary: Eight days after the Kyuubi attacks Konoha, Tsunade returns with a child in tow. As the Senju clan is revived, she must struggle with dark and dangerous enemies within the walls of Konoha itself.
1. Prologue

Prologue

AN: Just as a warning to you all OC's will feature heavily in this story.

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi was standing in what was once his office (and soon would be again) staring quietly at a picture of his wife when he heard the news that Tsunade was back in the village with her badly injured apprentice and a child in tow. It was clear that his messenger, a scrawny Inuzuka with a burned face, had been expecting a more positive reaction than what he was getting, which was a long suffering sigh as the old man (and he _was_ old, the Inuzuka realized with a squirming in his gut, as though it were traitorous to admit that a Kage was as mortal as the rest of them) placed the picture frame he had been holding tenderly in his hands back on the desk. "And what is this Tsunade doing now that she's arrived in the village in the wake of our recent catastrophe?"

"She's taken charge of the medics Hokage-sama, sir, the head of the Medical Corps died and it's been chaos since." Almost as an afterthought he added, "And Tsume-san got a good whiff and says it's her all right and the Hyuuga who remember her say the same thing so it's not an imposter. Hokage-sama." The old man was silent. "Sir." Again, silence.

Finally, Hiruzen sighed again. Tsunade was not the student he had been expecting, but he would welcome her back. Perhaps she would even consent to being named Fifth Hokage, though the possibility was bleak and distant, even to him. "Take me to her." He ordered the Inuzuka boy, who was eager to comply and obviously relieved to see his temporary leader displaying some measure of authority.

Even after eight days, even knowing what awaited him once he left the Hokage's Tower, it still shocked him to see Konoha in such a state. The once proud walls had been buckled inwards as though they were wet pieces of cardboard that had stood before a hurricane. Entire districts had been reduced to rubble, others to ash. Worst of all were the citizens milling the street, or lying injured on the ground. There were too many dead to rely on body bags and he saw that the clean up crews had been forced to use mattress covers or, in some more gruesome cases, black garbage bags that held mutilated remains whose shape could no longer be called even remotely human. As he got closer to Tsunade, the corpses were slowly replaced by the injured until he saw her back. She was standing away from him and issuing orders to the medics around her in a clear authoritative voice that he once thought he'd never hear again. "Get all Hyuuga with even a cursory knowledge of medicine up here and set them to scanning our patients, we need to know if we're wasting our time and nobody can tell us faster than they can. Someone call the Akimichi and tell them to send all the soldier pills they can spare, we're going to need them. Old man, take this and sit down somewhere until I'm done." She abruptly turned around and thrust a bundle at him, which he took from her with quiet understanding. Tsunade was in her element here, she did not need a former Hokage looking over her shoulder as she worked.

Quietly retreating to a nearby corner that was free of both patients and medics, he looked down at the bundle he was carrying. Was this the child Tsunade had brought back with her? Somehow he doubted it, the shock of pink hair and the bright green eyes clashed too much with Tsunade's blonde hair and brown eyes to convince him of any relation. As he quietly conferred with one of his ANBU and rocked the child to sleep in his arms, Tsunade marched up to him and snatched the child back. "What do you want old man?"

"I haven't seen you for seven years. Can't I simply be pleased with the return of my student?" He asked, not bothering to mention her oddly youthful appearance, or the rumours of children and heavily injured apprentices that had surrounded her abrupt return.

Her answering glare showed that no, he couldn't. "You always want something old man, don't pretend otherwise." The child she was holding burst into tears and she gave a very unladylike curse.

"Perhaps this is one of the few occasions where my intentions are completely pure? And you're holding it wrong, that's why it's crying. What are you even doing with a child anyway?"

"It's a she, and her parents are deep cover agents from Kiri. So's she." Seeing his baffled look, Tsunade sighed and launched into an explanation of how exactly an eight-month old could be a deep cover agent. "She's been shifted from her true appearance by the effects of a fuunjutsu assisted semi-permanent henge, no I have no idea how it works so don't ask me ask Jiraiya, but among the very carefully hidden seals there's an entirely different combination seal located on the back of her skull that was designed to be able to retrieve all of her memories posthumously. I recognize it, the design was widely used by Uzushio before Uzushio itself was destroyed."

It troubled him that Kiri had access to such high level fuunjutsu. "Will you be able to strip the seals from the child and return her to her normal state without harming her?"

"With Jiraiya here, her risk of death would drop down to about fifteen percent. I can't predict what she'll look like after the henge has been reversed, it may take several surgeries to do so since her chakra coils were affected too, but I'm guessing she's a Hoshigaki. The Kaguya are too valuable to use as spies." Both clans had significant physical differences, some would call them defects, brought about by their kekkei genkai, though if the child had shown any signs of inheriting either kekkei genkai she would have been sent back to Kiri immediately.

"Hm. And her parents?"

"They're with Ibiki." Seeing his questioning look, she clarified. "I requisitioned most of his torturers to serve as temporary medics, they're all trained as medics anyway, so he's understaffed at the moment and probably dealing with them personally." She shifted her attention back to the child in her arms. "Could you get one of your ANBU to put her in secure place, I have other things to do right now."

"Of course." He raised an arm and a figure in a canine mask appeared at his side. "Hound, please secure the child in ANBU headquarters." The figure took the child and left as soundlessly as he'd appeared.

He followed Tsunade into the depths of the hospital and noticed the slight tensing of her body and the way her fingers clenched and unclenched at her sides. No doubt the overcrowded hospital reminded her of the war. Suddenly, she stopped and Hiruzen nearly ran into her. Peeking over her shoulder (It still humiliated him to now be shorter than all of his students) he noted the cause of her distress. A young man who had rolled off of one of the many mattresses which lined the halls of the overtaxed hospital and now lay in a rapidly growing pool of his own blood.

"Idiot ripped out his stitches." Tsunade muttered to herself and it would have taken someone who knew her very, very well to notice the tremor in her voice and hands as she knelt by the young mans side, hands glowing green with healing chakra. After a few moments, her chakra receded into her hands once again and she rose to her feet. "Somebody dispose of the corpse and clean up the blood." She ordered as she grabbed a washcloth and furiously scrubbed at the blood on her hands. "Now."

As the orderlies scurried to do her bidding, she strode forward and reached a door at the end of the hallway which she promptly threw open. Inside what would have normally been a single patient room there were four gurneys with four inhabitants, and two more lying on the floor. As Tsunade walked over to a heavily bandaged figure on the floor, a small child attached herself to her leg. "Hello Sayori. I have to take care of Shizune-chan right now." The figure showed no signs of moving so Tsunade sighed and picked her up. "This is Hiruzen Sarutobi-san, Third Hokage of Konohagakure." She said as she turned around and faced him. "I want you to stay with him while I take care of Shizune-chan, okay?" The girl could not have been more than five years old. She was dark skinned, with dark brown hair and eyes. Hiruzen smiled gently at her, his curiousity piqued. She did not wear the Senju crest on her clothing but the resemblance to Tsunade was unmistakable.

"Hello Sayori-chan, it is an honour to meet you." He bowed and was rewarded with a small smile as the girl hesitantly walked over to where he stood, having been put down by Tsunade. He picked her up easily, she was quite light, and focused his attention on Shizune. The butcher of Numa was small and pale under her bandages, her eyes closed and breathing shallow. "I'm surprised she made it all the way here." He said conversationally as Sayori tugged on his beard, facial hair being an apparent novelty to her.

"You shouldn't be. She's stronger than you think." She said as she gently peeled off the final layer of bandages, revealing horrifyingly familiar wounds. Shizune's flesh had been cut and torn and in some places sheared off entirely, the gouges left all in the same vaguely triangular pattern. Her left shoulder and the left side of her face were affected the worst, and he knew that they would leave terrible scars.

"Sameheda. What has the Mizukage done?" The Third Mizukage was a cruel and brutal man, but he was not rash enough to provoke a Sannin and Konoha with her.

"You should thank him. Had he not found out that the great Tsunade was reduced to a shivering wreck at the sight of blood he would never have sent his swordsmen after me and I would never have overcome that fear." She furrowed her brow. "Shizune tried to take them all on herself, lead them away from me. I couldn't let her die. If I hadn't been such a coward it would never have come to this." She smirked suddenly, a cold and brutal thing that she had worn often when she was young. "Though with Sameheda gone I suppose any replacements he manages to scrounge up will be the Six Swordsmen of the Mist. Doesn't have the same ring to it does it?"

"I see." The destruction of Sameheda and the death of the Seven Swordsmen was good news. Now that Tsunade's reputation had been restored, Konoha would only prosper. With Tsunade back in the village, even Onoki would have to think twice before provoking them. The Mizukage truly had done him an immense favour.

"Will Shizune-nee-chan be okay?" Sayori asked suddenly, though she did not look at Shizune herself. The girl seemed oddly at home in the cold stark setting of the hospital room.

"Yes. She'll scar but she'll be okay. If it weren't for the chakra exhaustion she'd be up already." Tsunade replied as the last of Shizune's bandages went into place. She stood up. "Come on old man, we need to have a little talk before I take a look at the new vessel." She took Sayori from him and walked out of the room.

The walk back to the Hokage's Tower was silent but for Sayori's occasional questions and fraught with tension. Hiruzen took some comfort in the fact that the citizens of Konoha saw only a legend and a Hokage walking among them once again. He felt vaguely guilty when he settled into the Hokage's seat in the Hokage's office as though it was his (it had been once) but perhaps Tsunade would fill the position of Minato as he no longer could.

"So, I'm assuming the child is yours?" He asked once the doors were shut and Sayori playing with a nearby ANBU agent.

"Might as well be." She responded vaguely. "I'm going to adopt her and name her heir to the Senju clan. Not looking forward to the paperwork."

"Are you sure that's wise?" He asked, surprised by the blunt admission that the child was not hers. "If she is not a Senju by blood than-"

"She's got the Mokuton and is therefore a Senju by blood. And no, she's not like Tenzo, I've already run all of the tests and there are no trace of my grandfathers cells in her, she got the Mokuton all on her own. Her parents and relatives are long dead."

Hiruzen blinked, surprised. "Well, I'm afraid you have more paperwork to deal with than you feared. While you were gone the Senju clan was dissolved since there was only one living member that we knew of and removed from the Council." She looked like she'd been expecting that. "I can place you back on the council automatically but the reinstatement of your clan will require a more bureaucratic approach."

"Take your Council seat, I don't want it." Tsunade crossed her arms across her chest. "You should have dissolved that thing years ago and giving me access to it will be a slap in the face to every other clan there, especially the Uchiha."

"No, you will take the Council seat. Adopt Shizune into the Senju clan and name her your representative if you must but I will not let you weasel your way out of responsibility this time Tsunade." His face and his bearing were stern.

Tsunade was not fooled. "You… want to piss the Uchiha off don't you?" Her eyes widened slightly as she considered the implications of the move Hiruzen was about to make. "Have you gone insane? The Uchiha are the most powerful and prestigious clan in the village, a move like this would be spitting in the face of the pact our forefathers made, it's going to open all of the old wounds and let them fester, it's-"

"Do you think I have not considered all of this?" Hiruzen interrupted her. "I did not get this long as Hokage by blindly ignoring village politics."

"Then why-"

"Biwako was present when the Kyuubi was ripped out of Kushina, and she managed to keep herself alive until my agents could reach her." Her death was a raw wound and saying her name aggravated it. "She says that it was a masked Uchiha who attacked Kushina as she was giving birth and released the beast."

"So you're going to punish an entire clan for the actions of one person?"

"I have no intentions of punishing the Uchiha, but I do think that in light of this devastation having one of the founding clans of Konoha restored to the Council would be a good thing, for civilians and shinobi alike."

"So one woman and a child constitute a clan now old man?" Despite her protestations some of the fire had gone out of Tsunade.

"I am the Hokage, what I say is law and if the Mokuton is truly present in this girl than few people will object." He could tell he was wearing her down. "Be reasonable Tsunade. The Senju estate may have been destroyed by the Kyuubi but the Will of Fire remains strong in both Konoha and it's citizens. I have made many mistakes but re-instating the Senju clan is not one of them."

Tsunade was silent for a while. "Fine. But before I do anything else, there's something I want to confirm." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You knew that Dan would die when you sent him out on that mission." Her voice was not accusing, there was no fury or sorrow or pain in her eyes, just a flat resignation.

He did not know what to say to her. What could he say to her? That the Yamanaka would have killed Dan themselves for fear of his techniques, perversions of their own? That he had needed the young lords favour, but could not be seen refusing a contract on him, that most of all he needed _her_, the last Senju, the Sannin, whose name was feared by ninja twice her age, that he needed her back on the battlefield before she was lost forever to Dan's idealism and petty civilian honor? Before she'd met Dan she'd been perfect, the brilliant, ruthless kunoichi, ready to kill and follow orders without question, a weapon to be wielded in battle with impunity. After she'd met him she refused to go on assassination missions, she spent more and more time in the hospital, letting the skills that had kept her alive through thousands of bloody battles soften and go to waste. He had hoped to put her back on track, _he'd had no choice_, and instead he'd crippled her.

His silence was all that she needed. "You old bastard. You can't even say it can you?"

"Tsunade, I have made a great many mistakes-"

"The only thing that went wrong for you was my reaction. Sending Dan to his death was a never a mistake. Not for you."

"A Kage must make such decisions for the good of his village." And he knew as he said it that he had just destroyed any chance of her ever becoming Hokage.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess they do." She moved to leave. "So are you going to show me the vessel or what?"

"His identity is to be kept a secret. Speaking of it for any reason will be tantamount to treason." Hiruzen said as they moved into the dark, familiar depths of the ANBU tunnels below the Tower. "His name is Naruto Uzumaki. He is Kushina's child." And they said no more until they came to the heavily guarded room where Naruto was being kept until Jiraiya could tell them if his seal would hold.

The seals that were painted upon every available surface were intricate and chilling to behold. They had been based off of Mito Senju's designs, and included many prayers to the gods. Hiruzen did not know if those prayers did anything for the seal or if they were merely added to give the maker some degree of comfort. No doubt Biwako would have known.

Tsunade strode up to the crib in the middle of the room without any of the fear or tension she had shown in the hospital and smiled down at the Kyuubi's latest vessel. "Well you don't look much like your mother, but you certainly have her smile." She informed the small, silent Naruto before picking him up and letting her chakra wash over his body. "His chakra coils are under too much stress with all of the extra seals around here. He should be moved out as soon as possible." She made a face suddenly. "I'll take care of him. Wouldn't want the orphanage workers getting any clever ideas and this way you won't have to spare an extra ANBU team to watch him." She sounded as though she were justifying her decision to herself.

"That is very generous of you Tsunade." Hiruzen said, surprised.

"Yeah, well we're distant cousins or something. Wouldn't feel right to leave him to the wolves." She ran her fingers through her hair. "Besides, Shizune would insist on taking care of him if I didn't so I'm stuck with him either way."

"I will provide you with a house." Hiruzen told her as they left the heavily guarded room. Seeing her open her mouth to protest, he cut her off. "All of the Senju holdings were destroyed during the Kyuubi attack. You have no place to live. Therefore, I'm giving you a house, no complaints."

"Make sure it has high walls." Was her only response to that.

"I know just the one, I'll have Hound escort you there." The masked figure appeared silently as they entered the Tower, and as Hiruzen gave Hound his orders, Sayori came into the room and attached herself to Tsunade's leg once again.

"Mom, are we going home?" She asked and Hiruzen was surprised by how easily she called Tsunade her mother.

"Yeah, kid, we're going home." Tsunade said softly.

Hiruzen watched them leave with a heavy heart. He would have his own medics confirm Tsunade's claims but a child with the Mokuton raised more questions, especially if she was not Tsunade's child. The Senju had been very careful about keeping their bloodline within Konoha, and he had an awful suspicion that Orochimaru was somehow involved in Sayori's birth. If he was, there would be no choice but to kill her before his plans came to fruition. Perhaps Jiraiya, when he arrived, would be able to weasel the truth out of Tsunade.

* * *

Jiraiya picked up the child Minato had entrusted to him with a careful touch. The poor thing looked so fragile that he was almost afraid to hold it while he inspected the seal. "Not the same one as Kushina's." He muttered to himself, intrigued.

"Is that good or bad?" The Third Hokage asked him.

"For the kid? It's good, it's really good. Kushina's seal was designed to be something that allowed the Kyuubi to be used as a weapon but it had a whole range of nasty side effects for her, including the pressure it placed on her psyche to be in such close contact with a demon all the time. Naruto's seal is designed more like a storage seal, if I'm right the Fox won't even be able to influence him at all unless he's put in life threatening situations. The benefits of being a jinchuuriki will still be there, the rapid healing, the massive chakra reserves, but none of the negatives will be. Hell I'm willing to bet that Naruto won't even be able to call on the Fox's chakra unless he meets with the creature directly." He examined the seal on the boy's stomach. "Kushina and Minato made sure that he'd be well protected from the Kyuubi."

"Hm. Will the seal hold?"

"Yeah it'll hold. I won't go into specifics but unless somebody tampers with it, it should hold until the day he dies." He swallowed, uncomfortable. "But uh, I know I'm his godfather and all but I've got other things I've gotta do and really I think I can protect him better from a distance and you know I'd make a terrible parent anyway, so-"

"That's alright, Tsunade has already volunteered to be Naruto's caretaker." Hiruzen smiled at the shock on his students face. "She arrived shortly before you did. Apparently the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist attacked her while she was in the Land of Coral and managed to overcome her fear of blood when Shizune was injured. Needless to say, the Mizukage will have to find some new swordsmen." His face turned grave. "However, there is something else that we must discuss before you deliver Naruto to her." He flicked his fingers and the ANBU agents surrounding them left the room, leaving Jiraiya alone with his sensei and the child in his arms. "She brought home a child gifted with the Mokuton, and it is not her own. She intends to name her heir to the Senju clan. Tsunade refuses to tell me her true parentage, and I fear that Orochimaru may have been involved."

"I'll get the truth from her." Jiraiya promised solemnly. "But what are you planning to do if the kid was created by Orochimaru?" Even now, after all these years, the name still felt like ashes on his tongue.

"I fear I may be forced to kill her to stop whatever plans he may have in motion."

"Surely there's no need for that."

"Do you think I enjoy plotting the deaths of children Jiraiya?" Hiruzen asked sharply. "If Orochimaru had any hand in creating that child then she is a threat-"

"So's Tenzo and I don't see you putting out any kill orders on him." Jiraiya snapped back.

"Tenzo was three days old when we found him, far too young to have had any hatred for Konoha planted into his subconscious. This girl is five-"

Jiraiya broke into raucous laughter. "You mean to tell me that you're so afraid of a five year old that you're willing to have her killed? You failed to kill Orochimaru once and the world has suffered for it but I am not letting you kill an innocent child over your guilt. If she's been created by Orochimaru, Tsunade and I will find some way to cleanse the kid of his presence but I am not letting you kill her!" Naruto started wailing and Jiraiya's expression abruptly changed from one of hardened determination to one of sheer panic. "Shit what'd I do?"

"You're holding him wrong." Hiruzen took the wailing Naruto from Jiraiya. "Let's get over to visit Tsunade, hm?"

* * *

In the backyard of their new house, safely kept out of sight by the high walls and genjutsu Tsunade had set up, Sayori threw the kunai into the training post with a determined look in her eye and it embedded itself near the center. She had been aiming for the edge. Tsunade sighed slightly. If her daughter (the word still felt uncomfortable to her, and it made her nervous to be addressed as though she were a mother) was going to survive as a ninja she would need to be a lot better than that and Tsunade mentally made adjustments to the already extremely punishing training regimen she had made for Sayori.

"Tsunade!" A disturbingly familiar voice bellowed. "Light of my life, apple of my eye, tell me how much you missed me!" Jiraiya approached her with his arms thrown out wide as though he were expecting a hug and Tsunade promptly buried a fist into his stomach. "That much, huh? I'm practically brought to tears by your concern for my well-being." He said after he'd recovered. "Manly tears mind you. _Manly_."

"What do you want Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked as Sayori clung to her leg, another habit she'd have to break her out of.

"Why, only to see my beloved teammate again after all these years. Also to drop Naruto-chan off and make sure your house is properly sealed against intruders. Also to introduce myself to this lovely young lady." He gave a sweeping bow, which caused his long white hair to fall from his back to the ground. "I am Jiraiya, Toad Sage and one of the Legendary Sannin! You are?"

"Her name's Sayori and she's not talking with you!" Tsunade snapped, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Have you been flirting with Shizune?"

"Of course not, she's not eighteen yet!" He looked offended but then his face warped into his customary leer. "But when she is…"

He barely managed to dodge Tsunade's next blow and was only saved from a terrible grisly death when Shizune herself barged into the backyard, her bandages gone, her fresh scars exposed and holding a small bundle. "Tsunade, Sayori come look at him, isn't he adorable?" Sayori, who had been forced to let go of Tsunade's leg when she went after Jiraiya, attached herself to Shizune instead. "Sayori look, this is your cousin Naruto."

"I don't have any cousins, Shizune-nee-chan." Sayori said, looking troubled.

"The Senju and the Uzumaki clans are descended from a common ancestor, though they don't have any kekkei genkai." Tsunade explained. "It's distant, but he's our cousin and since his parents died when the Kyuubi attacked we'll be taking care of him."

"I'll put him in his crib, I think Hokage-sama wants to talk to you." Shizune said as she disappeared back into the house.

Tsunade walked into the house, brushed past Hiruzen, and grabbed a bottle of sake, which she promptly took a swig from. "I've talked to you too much lately." She grumbled. "It's getting annoying."

Shizune, who had deposited Naruto in his crib, walked back into the room and glared at Tsunade. "You're not supposed to drink in front of Sayori, you're setting a terrible example!"

Tsunade looked at her daughter. "Sayori, never drink alcohol."

Sayori looked at her mother. "I won't."

Tsunade shrugged. "See? Problem solved." She said over Shizune's enraged protests.

"Ladies, ladies, please calm yourselves." Jiraiya said, stepping in between the two. "We did come here to discuss something very important, after all."

"Which is?" Tsunade asked, suspicious.

"The parentage of little Sayori here and whether Orochimaru was involved in her formative years or not." Jiraiya raised his hand to still her objections, his face and posture suddenly serious. "I have no intentions of letting anyone kill her or take her away from you, but if Orochimaru is involved she may still have traces of his influence on her. I am the seal master after all, not you."

Tsunade sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I've already eliminated all of the seals. She's too young to have most of them applied anyway."

"So Orochimaru was involved with her creation." Hiruzen said, his eyes wary. "Why did you not tell me of this?"

"Because you were too weak to kill him before and you're too weak to kill him now, so you'd have wanted her dead instead." The tension in the room was growing thick. "Shizune, take Sayori to Naruto-chan's room and have her help you unpack." She looked like she might object at first, but she grabbed Sayori's hand and dragged her to the room. Tsunade took another swallow of sake. "So old man you want to know what your favourite student has been up to?" She sat down on her couch.

"I want to eliminate any potential threats to the village, Tsunade-hime. That's all I've ever wanted."

"Now are you gonna tell us who her parents are or what?" Jiraiya asked cheerfully as he sat down in the armchair opposite her, his feet propped up on the coffee table.

"Her parents are Hashirama Senju and some nameless peasant girl whose body I found in pieces in Orochimaru's main lab." She spoke quickly before they could interrupt her further. "No I have no idea how he did it but Orochimaru somehow got hold of my grandfathers stem cells and managed to manufacture sperm from them. Then he artificially inseminated sixty women from the Land of Coral. Thirty-nine of them miscarried. Two were stillborn. The remaining nineteen were kept in a facility hidden on an island just inside the Land of Coral's waters and tested for the Mokuton. Five inherited it, the other fourteen were discarded. Sayori is the only one of those five left. The others died in experiments or just because Orochimaru felt sadistic that day." She tried to banish the memory of how some of the bodies had looked when they'd been found, but it niggled at the back of her mind incessantly.

"How did you know where to find him? I've been searching for him for years and I've only ever found traces of his facilities." Jiraiya asked.

Tsunade snorted. "Who do you think told the Mizukage about my hemophobia in the first place? I don't know what Orochimaru wanted from the Mizukage but apparently my location, my weaknesses and my fears were what the Mizukage wanted in return." The current ruler of Kirigakure had never forgiven her for her role in the near extinction of his clan.

"He could have sold vital village intelligence to Kiri and you only tell me now?" Hiruzen sounded disbelieving.

"If he had you'd've known by now. Anyway I found the lab, and Sayori, when I managed to kill off five of the swordsmen. The wielders of Sameheda and Hiramekarei fled to Orochimaru's base to receive backup from him. Apparently he promised he would be there." She smirked. "He wasn't. When Shizune and I arrived, the wielder of Sameheda had killed the wielder of Hiramekarei for his chakra and fused with the sword."

"Fused?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yeah, fused. Apparently Sameheda was a sentient thing that fed upon the chakra of its victims, and its wielder. When it fused with the wielder it gave her its abilities, and significantly physically altered her as well." Though she wasn't about to admit it, it had been one of the hardest fights of her life with her so out of shape and Shizune wounded. "I smashed it after the battle was done. Then, once Shizune was stable, I started exploring the base. Sayori wasn't the only experiment I found who was alive, but she was the only one willing to cooperate with me." She sighed and let her head fall back. "There were no less than three dead man's switches on her body, a recording seal wired directly into her skull, seals to enhance speed, strength and agility located on her spine, seals to increase resistance to poison, seals to do god knows what all over her. She was practically covered with them."

"You deactivated them yourself?" Jiraiya sounded dubious. Sealing had never been Tsunade's area of study.

"Yes. I asked Kaguyu to help me okay, she knows a lot about seals." Tsunade said a touch defensively after Jiraiya looked doubtful.

"You want me to take a look at her?" Jiraiya asked.

"I doubt you'll find anything but sure." She replied finally. She looked at Hiruzen, who still stood. "Old man, there's something you should know." She closed her eyes. "You and the Uchiha and the Hyuuga and everyone with a kekkei genkai should know. When I was in Orochimaru's lab, I found research on a method to allow the soul to switch bodies."

"I know." Hiruzen interrupted her. "We found the same thing in his laboratory under Konoha."

"What you don't know is that the technique is nearly perfected." She responded grimly. "He's already worked out a way to make the switch, he just doesn't understand how to keep the replacement body from decaying after a few weeks due to stress between the new soul and the body. He was planning on using Sayori as a new body eventually, because of her Mokuton."

"And he will not stop there." Hiruzen sounded grim. "The Sharingan especially would be invaluable to his quest to learn all of the worlds jutsu." He leaned heavily on his cane and Tsunade was reminded of just how old he really was. "However, this does not convince me that the child remains free from his influence. He could have wanted you to find her and bring her here."

"I'm not letting you kill her." Tsunade said, her fingers clenching into fists.

"Nor am I suggesting that you do. I'm merely questioning the extent of his influence over her."

"His influence has been removed-"

You know." Jiraiya interrupted. "I could just examine the kid for seals and then go on my merry way but if you want me to keep on drinking your sake and listening to you argue I'm more than happy to do so." He had in fact, grabbed a bottle of sake and was taking occasional sips.

Tsunade turned her head. "Sayori!" She yelled. "Get in here!" When the dark-skinned girl did appear, she trotted obediently over to Tsunade, with Shizune and Tonton following close behind. Tonton let out an irritated grunt when she saw Tsunade and Jiraiya drinking without her, so Tsunade filled a dish with sake and laid it on the floor. Tonton immediately began drinking from it, a satisfied look on her face. "Sayori, Jiraiya is going to look you over for any seals that Orochimaru might have put on you. He won't hurt you, I'll kill him if he does, I promise." Ignoring Jiraiya's protests she lifted Sayori onto the coffee table. "Okay?"

"Okay." Sayori's voice was small.

The examination took a little over ten minutes, and Jiraiya found nothing but a strange seal on the sole of her left foot whose only purpose appeared to be inflaming the chakra coils of her body and forcing them to develop faster. "Well, that's it. You did a good job in removing those seals. Take good care of Naruto okay?"

"Report to the hospital tomorrow at ten, I'll need your help in an operation." Tsunade told him as he stepped out the door and he grunted in response. "You can leave now old man."

Hiruzen did not move. "Do you think you can heal the damage to her mind as well as her body?"

Tsunade was still for a moment. "I don't know." She admitted finally. "I hope so, but I don't know."

"Hm. I'll leave her in your care for now, but if Orochimaru does use her for any of his plans, you will be held responsible for the lives lost. Good day." With that, he left the house too.

"Is he going to kill me?" Sayori asked. The prospect of her death did not seem to frighten her, her voice was as level as it had been earlier.

"No. Never. Let's practice with senbon now okay? Shizune is really good with them, she can show you a few tricks." Sayori nodded and ran to the backyard but the feeling of unease Hiruzen's words had left with Tsunade didn't leave. If Orochimaru did hold any influence over her child, she was as good as dead.

* * *

AN: I really, really don't like writing fight scenes, I'm kind of crap at them. So uh enjoy this new story about Tsunade returning to Konoha and the consequences that follow.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

One year and two months after Sayori had arrived in Konoha, she woke up at five AM in the morning to Shizune shaking her shoulder. She was glad it was Shizune, her mother would have yelled loud enough to wake Naruto, who would start crying, which would wake Shizune and Tonton and her training would've been delayed by a good fifteen minutes while everyone calmed back down. "I'm up." She announced, though it was punctuated with a yawn.

"Good. Meet me downstairs in five minutes." Shizune left the room and Sayori stripped out of her pyjamas and into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. It was too cold for her to wear shorts but Sayori stubbornly refused to wear anything else unless her mother physically forced her. Though she wasn't training with weapons today she still strapped her shuriken holster to her leg and her senbon launcher to her arm.

As she trotted downstairs, carefully avoiding the squeaky floorboards, she noted her mothers empty bedroom. Tsunade had been working at the hospital for three days straight, there had been a small clash with Ame at the border. If such a small clash could create so many wounded, Sayori did not ever want to see a large one.

"You ready?" Shizune called from the backyard.

"Yeah." She called back as she stepped outside. The ground was covered in frost and there was an unmistakable chill in the air. Resisting the urge to hop from one foot to another and rub her arms because heirs to a founding clan of Konoha did not do such undignified things, she walked over to where Shizune was standing. "Target practice?" She asked hopefully. Target practice was her favourite part of training.

"Not today. Get into position, we're going to spar a bit, and no Mokuton." The backyard was still littered with stumps from when Sayori had panicked during a spar and reflexively called upon her kekkei genkai. The only place where she could practice the Mokuton was training ground thirty four and even it had become overgrown of late.

After ten minutes of gentle sparring (though Sayori received blows that would bruise, she still classified such fighting as gentle) Shizune motioned for them to stop and sent her to doing the tree climbing exercise until she was so chakra deprived she was dizzy, then more sparring, then katas, then executing the handsigns flawlessly, and finally push-ups, crunches and jumping jacks. Sayori had initially been surprised that few of the children in her class went through training regimens, and even the few that did receive supplementary training considered hers to be exceptionally brutal. She did not mind though, even as she panted with exhaustion and had trouble staying on her feet. It made her a better ninja and it was far, far better than Orochimaru had ever treated her. Besides, Itachi Uchiha was rumoured to get up at four instead of five so she was hardly alone in her training.

"Shizune-nee-chan, when is mom going to be back?" She asked, dreading the next part of her training. She hated memorizing facts and words never got along with her.

"Soon, Sayori-chan. I don't know exactly when, but soon." Shizune smiled and squeezed her fingers before sitting across from her with a solemn look. "Name all of the bones in your hand."

"Not including the sesamoid bones?" She asked, desperately stalling for time.

"No, not including the sesamoid bones."

"Uh, the fourteen phalanges, the five metacarpals, Trapezium, Scaphoid, Lunate, Triquetrum, Pisiform, and um." She searched her memory. "Um."

"Capitate, Hamate and Trapezoid." Shizune finished for her patiently.

For the next hour and a half they went over the anatomy of the hands and arms, a subject which Sayori had been learning about for over a month. To her mothers great disappointment and Sayori's shame, she had not yet performed even the most basic of medical ninjutsu. Her fish had actually exploded when she tried the first time, and Sayori privately doubted she was going to get any better. Everything else came so easily but medicine refused to reveal its secrets.

After they were done, Sayori wolfed down her breakfast and reluctantly set off for school once her weapons were safely stowed away. As she walked, she caught up with a gaggle of chattering Hyuuga of vastly different ages, all cousins or siblings with cloth covered foreheads and the same odd white pupilless eyes. They normally walked to school together, if only because they followed the same route. Kaito and Kokoro were in her class but she'd never bothered to learn the names of the others. They avoided her, as many of the other students did, probably because of her status as heir to the Senju clan. Or because they thought she was creepy. Either way, Sayori didn't feel like she'd lost much.

She arrived at school deep in thought and she ignored her teachers, distractedly answering all of the questions correctly as she thought about muscles and bones and blood and whether she would really be able to look at someone who was wounded without being reminded of Orochimaru and his cruelty.

"Alright, class dismissed. Senju-kun could you please come with me? Principal Sato wants to discuss some things with you." Wondering if this was about the drawing of the disemboweled boy she'd done last week (it was their fault for giving her crayons anyway), Sayori followed her teacher down the hall until they reached the principals office.

"Thank you Tetsuo-san. You may leave." Principal Sato was a heavy set man with gray hair, green eyes and three of the fingers on his right hand missing. She sat in the chair opposite his desk without question and looked him in the eyes. He did not seem angry. "Now, Sayori-chan, I've come to understand that you are a brilliant student, but that you do not enjoy your time here with us and rarely socialize with your peers."

Sayori stayed silent until it was obvious that he wanted her to speak. "My mother has already taught me everything the teacher knows and the other students don't like me very much. I think they're afraid of me."

"You're a very perceptive young woman." So they were afraid of her. Sayori wondered why. "I've come to ask you your opinion on one thing. Would you like to graduate early and become a ninja instead of spending your days being taught what you already know?"

"Yes." She almost said it twice but stopped herself just in time. "I would like to become a ninja."

"Then all you have to do is get your mother to sign this form and we can put you through the graduation test early. It's in two weeks." He held out a form to her, which Sayori held like it was made of porcelain and might shatter if she dropped it. Then she stuffed it in her back pocket.

"You may go for lunch now. I look forward to hearing your mothers response."

* * *

"No." Tsunade said flatly, not even bothering to look down from her clipboard. "You're six years old. No."

"I'll be seven in two days and you graduated when you were six." Sayori protested. They were standing in the hospital in Tsunade's office, with Tsunade looking over patient files. There were dark circles under her eyes.

"I was six when I graduated, which is exactly why I don't want you to graduate until you're older and have actually had a childhood. No."

"I'll never have a normal childhood. Nobody else understands me. Nobody else has seen people being disemboweled, nobody else knows what blood smells like. I thought Itachi-kun might but he just looked at me like all of the rest of them do." Sayori may have only been Tsunade's daughter for a year and two months but she knew exactly how to manipulate her. The damage done in the bowels of Orochimaru's laboratory was so deep that even now she wasn't disturbed by blood or death and she approached them the same casual way another child might approach an insect on the street. Reminding Tsunade of how deeply scarred her daughter was made her more likely to agree with the demands made by said daughter. "They think I'm a freak." And in this at least, the bitterness in her voice wasn't feigned.

"So you just want to become a ninja so that you'll be surrounded by people who won't give a crap about your mental health?" Tsunade asked skeptically.

"No! I want to make you proud. I want to prove to the Hokage that I'm not like O-, like him. I want to help Konoha. I want to be able to protect you and Shizune-nee-chan and Naruto-chan, but I can't and that scares me. I want to master the Mokuton before he comes back for me and I can't do any of that if you're too afraid to let me!" Sayori crossed her arms over her chest and stared stubbornly at her mother.

"…Fine. I'll let you try." Sayori shrieked with happiness and threw her arms around Tsunade's waist. "But in return for this, you have to come with me to the dinner at Fugaku Uchiha's today and wear a kimono and let me do your hair _and_ not bitch about it to anyone listening."

"I promise, I promise." Sayori grinned up at her mother. "I'll make you proud."

Tsunade smiled, then a sad thing that made her seem old. "You already have."

* * *

Several hours later, Sayori was already regretting promising to sit still and be quiet for the entirety of the dinner. She was already badly itching and she hadn't even reached the house yet. The rebuilt Uchiha district was located on the other side of town from their modest home, and the clan head's house was so far within that sprawling district that Sayori was starting to get sweaty by the time they reached the mansion-like house that was their destination.

She resisted the impulse to grab onto her mothers leg as she rang the bell. She was the heir to the Senju clan and heirs to the Senju clan did not cling to their mothers skirts, even if it was getting dark outside. A woman, small and dark eyed and fine-boned, opened the door and smiled when she recognized the stylized trees that made up the Senju crest. "You must be Tsunade-san and Sayori-chan. I'm Mikoto Uchiha, Fugaku-san's wife. Come in, everyone else is already seated."

Everyone else turned out to be the four Elders of the Uchiha clan, their wives (there were no female elders) and their heirs. Among the fifteen people seated were two boys close to her age, one whom she recognized as Itachi, and another older boy that she didn't know. She slid into her place opposite Itachi, beside her mother and gave him a tentative smile, one which he returned. As her mother and Fugaku began to talk, and the chatter of the Elders filled the air, it slowly became obvious that she and Itachi were supposed to be holding a conversation of their own. As she ate (clumsily it seemed, Tsunade had never bothered to drill her on table manners and it showed compared to the graceful, controlled movements of the gathered Uchiha) Mikoto was the one who eventually spoke to her first.

"So Sayori-chan, how are you enjoying the Academy? Itachi tells me that you can best him at shuriken practice." Itachi looked peeved that his mother would reveal his weaknesses like that.

"Itachi-kun can best me at everything but shuriken practice." Sayori replied, to sooth Itachi's wounded pride. "And I don't like it very much, my mother and Shizune-nee-chan have already taught me most of what the teachers know, so I'm going through the graduation test early. It's in two weeks."

"Itachi is also taking the graduation test early. Perhaps you two will end up on the same team." Mikoto said, and Fugaku looked at her with an expression that Sayori couldn't quite place.

"Maybe." Sayori said doubtfully. She'd wanted to be placed on a team with people who could keep up with her and while Itachi could do better than keep up with her, he was also aloof and distant, especially after her disastrous first attempt at conversation. She'd hoped that she would be placed on a team where she could make friends, and Itachi did not seem like friend material.

Suddenly a baby started crying, it's voice warped and muffled by the walls. "I'm sorry, I should go see to him." Mikoto said apologetically, before raising gracefully and walking out of the room. Shortly afterward, the wailing stopped.

"You have a brother?" Sayori asked Itachi.

"Yes, his name is Sasuke-chan, he's a year and a half." Itachi responded.

"I have a little cousin who's sort of like a little brother, his name's Naruto Uzumaki and he's a year and two months." She was pleasantly surprised when none of the elders stiffened or let their expressions become sour, though some of their heirs did. People didn't seem to like it when she talked about Naruto and nobody would explain why, though her mother attributed it to simple-minded fools infesting the village. "He's really loud too."

"Sasuke isn't normally this loud, he must be hungry." He paused, looking thoughtful. "It was quite kind of your mother to take Naruto-chan in." This time his father did stiffen and sent Itachi a warning look.

Tsunade spoke before Sayori could. "The Uzumaki and the Senju have shared a bond of friendship for generations that surpasses all else." She gave a lopsided smile. "Besides if I hadn't taken him in I'm fairly certain my grandmother would have risen from the grave just to scold me." With that the tension dissipated as several Uchiha gave forced chuckles or quiet smiles.

Having finally found a topic that she could discuss with Itachi with relative ease they set about to chattering quietly even as his mother returned, Sayori showing him the scar that a teething Naruto had left when she made the mistake of letting her fingers getting too close to his mouth and Itachi relating to her the tale of Sasuke peeing in his hair, and both of them agreeing that babies were disgusting, smelly, violent creatures that would hopefully be less like that when they were older (neither of them had either been infants like that, it was unanimously agreed, while Mikoto snickered in the background) and training as ninja.

Their conversation had almost devolved into a polite argument over which drooling infant would become the deadlier shinobi when dinner was finished and they were abruptly ushered outside with Keiji, the nine year old grandson and heir of one of the elders, when the conversation was deemed too important for children to hear.

"I wonder what they're talking about." Sayori muttered as she gazed up at the stars in the night sky. She had not seen the stars until she was almost six and they still held a mysterious beauty to them that she could not explain.

"Probably Council business." Keiji responded gruffly. She'd caught him sneaking glares at her throughout the meal and his resentment was easy to see. "Don't understand why a clan with only two members is given any say though."

"The Senju are one of the founding clans of Konoha and two of our Hokage's come from their ranks. You should be more respectful, Keiji-kun." Itachi replied stiffly before Sayori could. Before Keiji could respond though, he had turned his eyes to Sayori. "Is it true that you possess the Mokuton? I've never seen you use it."

"I've never seen you use the Sharingan. Kekkei genkai are not toys, especially ones as powerful as ours." She responded, taken aback. Her classmates had often begged her to demonstrate her skills but Itachi had never been one of them.

"I understand." His hand disappeared up one sleeve and came back clutching a burnt out branch. "In the first Uchiha district, at the very centre, there was a colossal tree that had been given to us as a sapling by the First Hokage. It was a symbol of the bond of trust between our clans, the Uchiha and the Senju." Keiji snorted behind him but Itachi paid him no heed. "It was burnt, along with the rest of our district, when the Kyuubi attacked. This twig was all that I could find left. I've heard that the Mokuton could bring life from ashes and dust." He paused, fumbling for his next words. "It would mean a lot to me and the clan if you could, or if you tried, it doesn't have to be big…"

"Of course I'll try." Sayori took the branch from him and closed her eyes, breathing in and feeling with her chakra. She knew how to revive dead trees, it was among the most basic of the First Hokage's techniques, but if she could not find any heartwood it would be useless. The demonic chakra had twisted and warped the branch almost beyond recognition but she felt something there, something different from the millions of blades of grass around her feet and the interconnected bamboo that hovered on the edge of her awareness. Carefully placing the branch on the ground, she moved her hands in familiar gestures and breathed out. When she opened her eyes she saw, briefly, the whirling red of Itachi's Sharingan and between them, a small sapling budding with leaves.

"You have renewed the bond between Uchiha and Senju." Itachi bowed low to her. "Thank you. I will ensure that it does not die." Even with her chakra pulsing through it, the sapling would be in danger during the entirety of December, not to mention the winter months that had yet to come.

"Bonds? What bonds?" Keiji sounded furious and his voice was loud enough to carry across the yard. "The Uchiha had a pact with the Senju clan, not an alcoholic whore and a little girl."

"You will take that back." Sayori hissed.

"No, I don't think I will." She could puncture his foot with the slender stalks of bamboo that had yet to grow. "The _Senju_ clan never fought against the Kyuubi." She could make the branches of the tree in front of her thick and strong enough to crush all of his bones and watch him scream while he died. "The Senju clan shelters it instead! The Senju clan wasn't here to help the Uchiha who died! The Senju clan never avenged them!" He was close enough now that she could draw out the blade hidden in her sleeve and drag it across his belly. "The Senju clan is led by an alcoholic coward and her bastard! The Senju clan is-"

"An ally of our family and worthy of great respect." Fugaku Uchiha stood on the back porch, looking furious. "Yujiro, discipline your grandson or I will do so myself." An old man, straight-backed and cold-eyed, stepped into the yard and grabbed Keiji so hard that he shrieked with pain. "Tsunade-san, I apologize for this outburst, it will not happen again."

"Your apology is accepted. I've certainly heard worse things said about me." Tsunade's voice was deceptively mild when she said. "But the Hokage's law regarding the Kyuubi is quite clear. I suggest you spend some time reminding the boy of how important the Hokage's orders are."

"Of course, Tsunade-sama." Yujiro bowed and dragged his squirming grandson behind him into the house.

"In the meantime, Sayori?"

"Yes Mother?"

"What part of 'no using the Mokuton unsupervised' did you not understand?" Tsunade pointed to the small sapling.

"Um." Luckily, Itachi swooped in to rescue her.

"It was my request Tsunade-sama. The tree that your grandfather created to symbolize the pact between Uchiha and Senju was destroyed by the Kyuubi last year. I requested that Sayori-chan revive it, in the hopes that the historic friendship between our clans would be similarly renewed by the symbol." He bowed. "I apologize if this led to her disobeying any orders."

Murmurs ran through the assembled group of adults, but Tsunade still did not budge. "That was a very good idea but you still should have cleared it with Fugaku-san and myself before you went through with it. I apologize for cutting our talk short but Sayori has some things she needs to learn about Naruto and I'm not the one to tell her. Come along, Sayori." She ran forward to grab her mothers hand and found herself swept along before she could give Itachi a proper goodbye.

"What does this have to do with Naruto?" She asked, confused. "All he said was-"

"Don't repeat it. Not here." Tsunade's voice held a warning tone so Sayori reluctantly clamped her lips shut.

It took them the better part of half an hour to get to the Hokage's tower and for the first time Sayori realized just how large Konoha was and how isolated the Uchiha were. They climbed the staircae and Tsunade addressed the air. "I need to speak to the Hokage." A man wearing a badger mask materialized and Sayori gasped. He opened the door to the Hokage's office quietly.

"Ah, hello there Sayori-chan, Tsunade-hime. What a pleasant surprise." Hiruzen Sarutobi removed his pipe from his mouth and laid it gently on the desk.

"Can it old man. Some Uchiha brat told Sayori that the Senju clan was 'sheltering the Kyuubi' and I need you to explain what it means." Tsunade was never respectful when she spoke to the Hokage.

"He also said that I was a bastard and Mom was a cowardly alcoholic whore but I didn't hurt him, even though I wanted to." Sayori added when the Hokage's face darkened.

"Your self-control is commendable. Tsunade-hime, if you would wait outside?" Her mother reluctantly let go of her hand and left, slamming the door behind her. There was no place for her to sit so Sayori stood and tried to look dignified. "Sayori-chan, do you remember what the village looked like when you first came here?"

"Yes." The scars left by the Kyuubi's attack could still be seen today.

"That damage was caused on October the tenth, when the Kyuubi was forcefully ripped out of Kushina Uzumaki, the second vessel of the Kyuubi, by an enemy of Konoha. Kushina and the Fourth Hokage gave their lives to reseal the Kyuubi no Yoko." He paused to fill his pipe with tobacco and the pieces clicked together in her mind, Naruto's birthday, the way people treated him, the name of the previous vessel.

"Naruto is the third vessel?"

"Yes."

"How?" The cheerful infant being the container of such a terrible power was difficult for her to comprehend.

"The legacy of Uzushio. Your great-grandmother Mito Uzumaki was the first to figure out how to seal a bijuu within a human host and draw on the bijuu's power. When she grew old and weak, Uzushiogakure sent a young girl, Naruto's mother Kushina, to replace her as the vessel. And when someone sabotaged Kushina's seal as she gave birth to Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki was chosen to be the third vessel. Even I do not understand how it works, but the only way to stop a bijuu is to seal it away, they cannot be killed by mortal hands." He looked tired. "My successor chose Naruto as the vessel because he was an Uzumaki and possessed large amounts of chakra, as well as the potential to live an incredibly long life, both things that would help keep the demon at bay."

"Why would he do something that cruel? Naruto's just a little kid." Her anger towards the Fourth Hokage was rising.

"Sometimes Kages must make difficult decisions for the good of their village."

"That's bullshit. You're lying. If you really cared about this village and anyone in it you would have killed Or- you would have killed that man when you had the chance. If the Fourth cared about the village he would have sealed the Kyuubi into someone who was about to die so that the kyuubi could die with them. You're a liar!" She was screaming now and she didn't care.

"The kyuubi would not have died with them, and you don't need to parrot your mothers words at me-"

"They're not my mothers words she thinks that the Fourth is a hero but he's not, he's evil just like _he_ is and you're a liar!"

"Sayori, calm down." Her mothers tone was icy. "I will not have you insulting men you don't understand. The Fourth was a hero, regardless of your personal feelings."

"But he doomed Naruto. People spit at him in the street and he's only a year old. Nobody will ever accept him. He was so little and the Fourth decided that he should have a demon inside of him and he put one there and now Naruto will never have a normal life."

"We'll accept him. We'll do our best to make sure he has a normal life, regardless of who stands in our way. And the Kyuubi can't influence him, not with the seal on him and not with you around." Tsunade's voice was oddly gentle and Sayori realized she was crying.

"Why am I so special?" She sniffled, wiping away her tears with her sleeve.

"Of all the kekkei genkai that exist on this earth, only two have ever been shown to be able to control the Kyuubi. The first is the Sharingan. The second is the Mokuton. You don't know how yet but as you get older and your Mokuton gets better you'll learn how to control the bijuu. You can help Naruto, if he ever loses control. So don't cry, okay? You're a very special person and Naruto needs you and your love." She carefully brushed the hair out of Sayori's face and looked into her eyes. "When I was young, my grandmother Mito told me that the only thing strong enough to defeat a bijuu's hatred was love. Naruto loves you and you love him back. Just by being there, you're helping him defeat the demon inside of him. So don't cry. Naruto will be fine."

* * *

Sayori's birthday passed by without incident. Shizune bought her a vial of poisons and promised to teach her how to use them on her senbon. Tsunade gave her a technique scroll that had existed for fifteen generations of the Senju clan, and Naruto threw up on her feet after he had some of her cake. She didn't care though, for over the next two weeks, Sayori spent as much time playing with Naruto as she could, even going so far as to skip practice in order to spend more time trying to teach him how to speak. In fact she was so absorbed with Naruto that she completely forgot about her early graduation until she walked into the classroom one day and was gently told to report to the sixth-year classroom by Tetsuo-sensei. As she walked up to the sixth-year classroom with her heart pounding in her chest, she took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. She was Sayori Senju, daughter of Tsunade the legendary Sannin. She could totally open the door in front of her and walk in like she belonged there. Totally.

With shaking fingers, she twisted the doorknob and walked into the classroom. A teacher she didn't recognize stood at the front of the class, near a separate room and without looking up she said, "You're late Senju-kun. Sit at the desks until your name is called."

She practically fled to the shelter offered by the desks, sitting down next to an Inuzuka girl who looked only a year older than her, though she had three grey puppies sitting at her feet. The sixth-years appeared offended by her presence and she caught more than one dark glare headed in her direction. She noticed Itachi sitting a few desks away and smiled at him, which he did not return. After the Inuzuka girl came strolling out of the adjacent room with a forehead protector worn around her neck, her three puppies now the proud owners of one each, Sayori's name was called and she stood up, nearly trembling with dread.

"Make three clones of yourself." The young silver haired teacher said to her once she entered the room.

To be on the safe side, she created five.

"Hm. They're all breathing in tandem, no unnecessary detail though one of them appears to be trembling…" Sayori immediately dispelled that one. "Very well, Senju-kun, you passed. Collect your headband on the way out." Sayori dashed forward to grab her headband, then slipped out of the room before the teacher could change his mind. Once she was out and seated, she tied the cloth around her forehead and felt the metal plate with her fingers, carefully tracing the leaf design with her fingertips. Soon afterwards, Itachi came out of the room wearing his own forehead protector and several older students did not.

"Congratulations to all of you with your headbands, you are now shinobi of Konoha and adults in the eyes of the village." The female teacher said. "Report here tomorrow to be assigned to your teams and first missions."

* * *

Fugaku Uchiha met with the Hokage in his smoke stained room and waited, respectful and alert as a dutiful subordinate ought to be. "You called for me, Hokage-sama?" Some small, traitorous part of himself that Fugaku had not been able to crush whispered that he should not be calling the man who had practically exiled his clan with such a respectful suffix.

"Yes, I believe I did." Hiruzen Sarutobi responded with a smile. "It reflects well on you that you arrived with such haste. I called you here to discuss Itachi's placement on his team."

"I have already gained permission to have Itachi enter an apprenticeship to Shisui Uchiha. There will be no team." Fugaku said a bit more forcefully than he'd intended.

"Ah yes, well your wife and the academy instructors all agree that it would be best for Itachi to be placed with a group of peers under a single instructor. He is a very lonely boy after all." Fugaku was not shocked that his wife would go behind his back to ensure her will, but he was shocked that it was in this manner and for such a flawed concept. Itachi would do far better under one-on-one tutelage than he would with a team to slow him down. "However because he is so young we thought it best to waive the traditional Academy make up of new genin teams and place him with his peers." Fugaku had a sudden terrible suspicion of what the Hokage was going to say next. "Sayori Senju and Hana Inuzuka are both close in age to your son and have both graduated early. I will be placing them under Shisui Uchiha. You have no objections to this, I hope?"

"None, Hokage-sama." Fugaku was furious. He had been outmaneuvered by his own wife, and now his son, his heir was at risk of being even further corrupted by Senju nonsense. As he stalked out of the office he was thankful that at least Shisui would still be guiding the boy. Perhaps the situation could be salvaged.

* * *

Itachi Uchiha arrived early at school the next morning. He'd been kept up late by the raised voices of his parents as they argued over his placement on a team. His mother thought it was the best thing for him. His father thought it was a move by the Hokage to further corrupt his heir. As he settled in his seat with his new headband weighing down on his forehead, he thought about the disruption to his father's plans for his future. He had always known exactly what he was to do next, because his father had always planned it out for him and told him the best course of action. To have those careful plans suddenly dashed was both frightening and relieving in an odd way. He could make his own choices now, and face his own consequences.

As the last of the students trickled into the classroom, the teacher began reading off names and team numbers. "Team four will be made up of Hana Inuzuka, Sayori Senju and Itachi Uchiha." He glanced around and found Hana Inuzuka, a lanky eight year old girl with three puppies at her feet and the fang tattoos characteristic of her clan under her eyes. For her to have been gifted with three ninken instead of one she must have been a prodigy in her own right. He already knew Sayori Senju, though he was mildly surprised to be put on the same team as her. The rivalry of their respective clans was a village legend in its own right and while Itachi did not hate her, he found her odd, to put it lightly. Their first conversation had involved her asking him if he knew what blood smelled like and she had looked strangely disappointed when he told her that he didn't.

A familiar face entered the room as soon as the teacher had finished assigning teams. "Team four with me." Shisui Uchiha said, and all three members got to their feet, following him dutifully in a line, with Itachi first, Hana second and Sayori last. Itachi was mildly surprised when they left the building, and even more so when they began approaching the village gates.

"Where we going?" A squeaky voice asked and Itachi nearly tripped over his own feet when he realized that yes it was in fact one of the puppies that had spoken. He'd heard rumours of the intelligence of the Inuzuka ninken but this was simply absurd.

"To training ground twenty-three." Shisui responded. It was a good twenty minute walk there and when they did arrive at the training ground, which was covered in grass that came up to Itachi's waist and Shisui's knees, he turned around and sat down on a boulder. "Okay so hi you guys, I'm Shisui Uchiha. Also called Shunshin no Shisui but mostly by my enemies. I work at the Konoha Police Department," He gestured at the black star with the Uchiha crest in the middle which was sewn onto his clothing. "I like sunny days and cats. I don't like cowardice or Iwa, and especially not cowards from Iwa. My favourite food is probably beef yakisoba and my dream is to one day see an Uchiha become Hokage."

Itachi took his cue from Shisui and cleared his throat. "My name is Itachi Uchiha. I like cats and dango and tea, I don't like steak or people who are rude to their parents. My favourite food is onigiri with seaweed in it and my dream is to see a lasting peace come to all of the Elemental nations."

Hana took a few minutes to speak. "I'm Hana Inuzuka. These are the Haimaru brothers. I like studying and going for walks. I don't like being bored. My favourite food is tsukune. My dream is to become a veterinarian." Apparently finished, she stopped and gazed down at the ground.

Sayori adjusted her headband before speaking. "I'm Sayori Senju, I like Naruto-chan and Shizune-nee-chan and birds, I don't like snakes or when my mom has to work at the hospital for a week without a break, my favourite food is oden and my dream is to protect the people I love while I rebuild the Senju clan."

Shisui nodded. "That's good, I feel like we all know each other a little better. Now while you may have your headband and been assigned to your team, you aren't genin yet." Ignoring the surprise on his students faces, he continued. "For you to become genin, you have to pass my test before tomorrow. That test is to find me, and come close enough to touch me. Once you succeed in touching me, you'll gain a replica of this seal." He raised a hand to show them the intricate interlocking whorls of a design that looked like it could have come from Uzushio itself. "Good luck." And then he simply wasn't there any more.

"But do all of us have to touch him or just one of us?" Sayori asked him with confusion written clearly across her face.

"I don't know." Itachi frowned. "It will be nearly impossible for me to touch him. He has spent far too much time personally training me to be caught unawares. and his mastery of the shunshin technique means that it will be extremely difficult for either of you to touch him as well."

Beside him, Hana clapped her hand over her nose and the air echoed with the sound of tiny puppy sneezes. With great difficulty she formed a handsign and whispered, "Release." Under her breath but her relief was temporary, as she was soon clasping a hand to her nose again. "Genjutsu. Entire place smells like cat piss. Can't shake it off for more than a minute."

Itachi activated his Sharingan and looked at her critically before shouting and clapping hiss hands over his eyes. His vision had fragmented into a thousand kaleidoscopic fragments of the world and the chakra behind the illusion only made it more difficult to dispel. When he deactivated his Sharingan the illusion faded away.

Beside him Sayori's hands slipped into the Snake handsign and she promptly toppled over. "Got him. Or one of his clones." She grunted. "He was in the tree." She promptly threw up, and Hana had to drag her to her feet before the dizziness abated. Behind them, there was a thump as Shisui's still form fell out of the tree. Itachi had never seen that much blood before and before he really registered what he was doing he was running forward shouting Shisui's name and then the still Shisui looked up, grinned and poofed into a cloud of smoke and a gust of wind as the net trap beneath Itachi's feet activated and sent him, Hana and Sayori careening wildly into the air in a mess of locked limbs and tangled netting.

"What are you doing?" The loudest of the Haimaru brothers squeaked from his place on the ground.

"Being idiots." Itachi grunted. "Shisui is a master of the hypnotic powers of the Sharingan. He must have removed some of our inhibitions and encouraged our panic." Apparently dogs were not affected by it though, and Itachi filed that information away for later use.

"I didn't know anyone but the Yamanaka could do that." Sayori wheezed, her shuriken holster pricking into his back.

"It's an extremely difficult skill to master." Hana kicked him in the ribs. "What are y-ow!"

"Getting out." Hana grunted in response as she placed her feet firmly on his protesting ribs and pushed away, managing to untangle her arms enough to reach a kunai. She threw it to the ground with a thunk and barked a command to one of the brothers, who quickly turned into a feral looking version of Hana and trotted off towards the tree to find a rope to cut.

After the rope had been cut and the three of them were sent tumbling towards the ground, with the unfortunate Sayori on the bottom and crushed by the weight of her teammates, they set about to untangling themselves from the net. "That was humiliating." Sayori groaned once she'd been extracted.

"It must not happen again." He glanced at the Haimaru brother in the form of Hana. "What is your name?"

"Haimaru."

"And your brothers?"

"Haimaru." He had the grace to look sheepish. "Our mother wasn't very creative."

Itachi pinched the bridge of his nose. "From now on you are the only one called Haimaru. Your brothers will be named… Shiromaru and Guremaru." Seeing the looks they were giving him he hastily added. "Only on missions. The Sharingan's hypnotic powers don't work on dogs so you three will be our most important allies in this test."

"They can't dispel genjutsu yet." Hana said. "Won't be able to track him."

"I can track him through the trees." Sayori responded eagerly. "And he can't completely screw up my sensing because it's a sense he doesn't have."

"Yes but he can completely incapacitate you and lead us to dead ends with his shadow clones." Itachi frowned slightly as he looked at the forbidding forest in which Shisui was undoubtedly waiting. An idea sprung to his mind. "But then… he never said he would be waiting in the forest."

"You think he's at the police department?" Hana asked, while Sayori looked confused.

"He went to great lengths to mention his occupation in his opening speech." Itachi responded gravely.

"But I can sense him in the forest!" Sayori protested. "Well, three adults with his height and body mass but I'm pretty sure one of them or all of them is him."

"Shisui has the chakra reserves to create two dozen shadow clones without becoming winded. The forest is likely heavily trapped. The police department will not be, and if he is not there we can return here to begin the search anew." Itachi responded levelly.

"Itachi's right." Hana said when Sayori looked unconvinced. "We should go."

* * *

Shisui Uchiha was sitting in his office in the police department, sipping his expensive imported coffee and absently pitying his students for the suffering they must be going through right about now when the door was pushed open and his students walked in. He sighed, not nearly as surprised as he should have been. "You figured it out that quickly? It's been less than an hour."

Itachi gazed solemnly at him from across the desk, his Sharingan blazing. "Yes."

Hana darted around the desk with a speed that could have only been chakra enhanced and grabbed his uncovered hand, causing the seal to slip from his hand to hers. "We pass."

"Yes. You pass. Report to the Hokage's tower at eight tomorrow for our first mission." He pushed himself away from his desk. "I have some traps to deactivate."

* * *

Sayori's first mission as a ninja involved weeding the garden of some frail old lady who made them tea and cooed over the Haimaru brothers. As she completed the mission and as she patiently waited while Shisui revealed their grueling training schedule, and as she was walking home, Sayori was occupied by only one thought. "I am the slowest, stupidest and least skilled member of my team." She announced to the empty air as she walked into her house.

"So train harder." Tsunade answered bluntly from her place on the couch with Naruto beside her.

"But I'll never be able to catch up with them." Sayori wailed, collapsing in the battered armchair. "Itachi-kun's a genius in like everything and Hana-san can do advanced medical ninjutsu even though she's only eight and she can beat the crap out of me and I was the only one to not be able to see through Shisui-sensei's trap and I'm a complete and total failure and I'll never make it past genin."

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself." Tsunade said sharply. "Itachi-kun and Hana-chan may be better and smarter than you but that doesn't mean it's okay for you to give up. You're better at them in some things and they're better than you in others. That's the entire point of having a team, so that you balance each other out."

"I'm not better at them in anything except the Mokuton and-"

"Bullshit. You've only known them for two days. Give it a year before you decide to give up." That apparently ended the conversation and Tsunade went back to playing with Naruto while Sayori slunk upstairs.

A year. She had one year to find an area in which she was better than her teammates and if she found none, she would request a different team.

* * *

AN: I swear to god that this will not be an OC/Itachi story. No romance involved whatsoever. Also it won't be a Tsunade/Itachi story either.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Over the next year, Sayori tried her very best to find an area in which she outclassed both Hana and Itachi completely, to little success. Her first area of study was genjutsu, which seemed to be working well until Itachi had complimented her and offered to train with her, explaining that his mother was one of the villages deadliest genjutsu specialists and had apparently passed all of her gifts on to him, as he demonstrated when he neatly gave her a concussion by convincing her inner ear that her body was in desperate need of a lie down when she was perilously close to some large and thoroughly unfriendly rocks.

With taijutsu, it was Hana who dashed her hopes for though Sayori and Itachi were on a roughly equal level, despite having entirely different styles, Hana was simply stronger, faster and more cunning than Sayori, even without her ninken to help her. Hana had attributed it to her age and more developed muscles but Sayori thought she was simply trying to spare her feelings.

When taijutsu and genjutsu had failed her, Sayori had turned to ninjutsu and there had found a brief respite from her status as the team idiot. She had practiced relentlessly with doton and suiton for months until she had finally been able to use both elemental affinities in jutsu well beyond her age and rank. Itachi had taken one look at her successful results with his Sharingan activated and flawlessly reproduced her jutsu in mere moments, and had even begun to surpass her in his mastery of suiton, in addition to the katon which made his clan famous. Hana had started practicing with raiton jutsu until she was able to best Sayori's strongest doton. Even her ninken had started to pick up on her elemental affinity.

All in all, with her medical ninjutsu still appalling and her Mokuton still unmastered, Sayori was ready to turn in her resignation early until one chill October morning when Shisui ordered her to stay behind from training to have a talk. "So, I've heard you've been considering quitting the team." He said cheerfully, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

Sayori sighed and sat down on a tree she had made to ensnare Itachi. "In two months. It's not fair to them to be placed with someone who can't keep up."

Shisui raised an eyebrow. "You think you're a liability."

"I don't think I'm a liability, I _know_ I'm a liability." She responded sullenly.

Shisui was silent for a moment. "You know, I would expect this kind of behavior from an Uchiha a lot more than I would from a Senju." He said with a wry smile.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She snapped, her tree creaking in warning.

"It means that you're being monumentally self-centered and are ignoring the needs of your team. Now it's not really fair of me to assign these qualities to my entire clan but we do tend to cultivate a certain personality type so." He shrugged helplessly. "Anyway we were discussing your desire to quit and why it would be a monumentally stupid and selfish idea."

"It's not stupid or selfish! I can't keep up with them. Even my Mokuton isn't enough, they're just better and smarter and faster than I am and no matter how hard I try I'll never be good enough." She found herself blinking tears out of her eyes.

"Normally I'd commend for recognizing your limits but I don't think you're thinking logically here. You are a genius, and you're the youngest person on this team. Yes, right now you're the weakest. That doesn't mean that you'll never catch up to Hana or Itachi. All three of you- look at me Sayori, all three of you have the potential to become A-class assets to our village and I will not see you squander that potential because you feel you're not good enough."

"Itachi's only six months older than me and-"

"Six months is a long time, especially when you've got the best trainers one of the most powerful clans in the village can muster at your beck and call." He sighed. "Do you even know how powerful you are? You're seven years old and you can throw out doton techniques like they're party favours. You have in your possession one of the most powerful kekkei genkai in the world and your chakra reserves could be even bigger than mine some day. I know you're not used to waiting, but give yourself more time to develop before you decide what you can and can't do, and while you're at it, think of what your absence would mean for your teammates." His eyes were kind. "You can go now."

She did not run on her way back to her house, though she wanted to, and when she arrived she didn't go to her room and lock the door, though she wanted to. Instead she smiled at Naruto, who was valiantly trying to escape his playpen and broke into a babble of greetings when he noticed her, whining to be let out. Obligingly, she picked him up and deposited him on the floor, where he promptly proved himself unworthy of her trust by tripping over his own feet and slamming his head into the coffee table.

He broke into loud wails, and Shizune appeared, with Tonton close behind. "Sayori you know you're not supposed to let Naruto out of his playpen when I'm not around." She scolded as she knelt by Naruto and put a hand glowing with medical chakra on his head.

"Naruto-chan's getting too big for his playpen anyway." Sayori said stubbornly. "I asked Itachi-kun and Hana-chan and they said Sasuke-chan and Kiba-chan don't use playpens anymore."

"That's because Sasuke-chan and Kiba-chan are older and more mature than Naruto. He's not even two yet." Her healing done, Naruto went back to trotting about the room, with Tonton close behind to make sure that he did not fall again. "You've spoken to Shisui-san about Naruto's birthday and being excused from missions that day right?"

"Shisui-sensei says he can't promise anything but he'll try to make sure I'm free on the tenth." Naruto's second birthday would also be happening on the night of the festival that celebrated the defeat of the Kyuubi. The people of Konohagakure would undoubtedly be mourning their dead as well, and with Tsunade out of the village on a mission they would be less reserved about attacking the Kyuubi's host or his adoptive family, so the plan was to stay home that day and celebrate Naruto's birthday in peace while ANBU agents protected them from threats.

Shizune sighed. "Well it's better than nothing, I suppose. How was training?"

Sayori flinched. "Terrible. I lost to both of them when we sparred and _Shiromaru_ can do the replacement jutsu better than me now. Hana said to thank you for the medical scrolls by the way, apparently she's almost finished with them." The reminder that her teammate was better than her at the one area in which she should have excelled was a thorn in her side.

"She's progressing very quickly, but not everybody is cut out for medical ninjutsu so don't beat yourself up over it and _don't_ try and quit over it either. Your first genin team is special and those two will end up being your friends for life if you'd let them." Naruto returned to Shizune's side and clambered into her lap, giggling triumphantly with a toy train in his hand.

"Like mom's team?" She snapped, sick of this conversation.

"Well would your mother tolerate the great and numerous perversions of myself, the great Jiraiya-sama if she didn't like me?" A distressingly familiar voice boomed. She hadn't even heard him come in.

"Frog man!" Naruto chirped brightly as he recognized the intruder.

Jiraiya scowled at the toddler. "It's Toad Sage to you boy, and don't you forget it!"

"Frog man!" Naruto shouted back and Sayori snickered at the offended look on Jiraiya's face.

"You're lucky Gamabunta isn't here to hear you calling him a frog, you brat." Jiraiya mumbled in response, apparently unwilling to get into an argument with a toddler over the proper use of his many titles. "Anyway Sayori-chan-"

"If this is about you being dead last and still managing to become a legendary Sannin I don't want to hear it." Sayori responded, pouting.

"Actually, it was about friendships and how important it is for you to participate in them. Have you even considered how the Uchiha and Inuzuka brats would feel if you left the team?"

She hadn't. "Probably relieved that they didn't have to put up with me anymore."

"For a genius you can be incredibly stupid sometimes." Shizune said while she patiently adjusted Naruto in her lap. "You're one of the few people Hana-chan will say more than three words to and Itachi-kun actually invited you to Sasuke-chan's birthday party. That means they both consider you a friend."

"What does that have to do with me being the weakest person on the team?"

"It means that your teamwork will improve. It means that you've made friends. It means that they don't know you're considering quitting or they'd be talking to you about it themselves." Shizune got to her feet, Naruto balanced on her hip. "My genin team and jonin sensei are all dead, and I miss them every day. I don't want to see you abandoning your friends because you think you're not good enough."

"But-"

"Listen to Shizune-san kid, she's a hell of a lot smarter than you." Jiraiya interrupted. "Now stand up so I can do this properly, if you're sitting I might miss something." Sayori sighed and stood up as Jiraiya's chakra washed over her.

"Do you have to do this every year?" She asked plaintively. "Seals can't go dormant for that long and they'd still show if they did."

"Yes I have to do this every year so quit complaining. And there's a lot about fuunjutsu that you and I don't know. We can't take any risks, so _stop squirming_ and let me do my job. I could be in the arms of a beautiful woman right now and instead I'm back in Konoha just to check on you, show a little gratitude would you?"

"You only dislike Konoha because Tsume-san caught you peeking last time and nearly tore your throat out." Sayori muttered rebelliously, though she did stop fidgeting.

"I would have won that fight if Tsunade hadn't stepped in." Jiraiya asserted.

"Would not."

"Would so."

"Would not."

"Would so."

"Would n- just shut up and do your job okay?"

After Jiraiya had proclaimed her to be free of all seals and therefore safe for the next six months, she stomped up to her room and threw herself on the bed. After a few moments, she grabbed her team photograph off of her dresser and sat down to study it. She, Itachi and Hana were all looking solemnly at the photographer, while Shisui was grinning, perhaps in some desperate attempt to lighten the atmosphere. Her team was different, she knew that. Three prodigies being assigned to one team was practically unheard of, but their youth had essentially forced the Hokage to assign them to one team, regardless of personality types and how well their skills would mesh. All three of them had stunted social skills, for entirely different reasons, and all three of them were reluctant to reach out to strangers, for entirely different reasons. As she thought about this, she realized that nearly all of her interactions with Hana and Itachi had been arranged by Shisui, who seemed determined to give his young charges a relatively normal childhood. She knew that he was the reason why they hadn't gone on a C-rank despite almost a year of service. Perhaps if she tried to connect with them, get to know them better, she wouldn't feel so resentful of their skills.

"Shizune-nee-chan can I invite Itachi-kun and Hana-chan to Naruto-chan's birthday party?" She yelled down the stairs.

"Sure." Shizune yelled back. "Just be polite about it okay?"

* * *

"A birthday party?" Itachi asked quizzically as he pulled yet another weed out of the dirt.

Sayori coughed and scratched the back of her head. "Well it won't be much of a birthday party since Naruto-chan's too young to make friends of his own yet so it's only me, Shizune-nee-chan and Jiraiya-san so I figured I'd invite you and Hana-chan because you're my friends. You won't have to stay very long."

Itachi blinked and appeared to think about it for a moment. "Very well. I'll arrive at two, after the memorial service." The Uchiha had lost many in the Kyuubi's attack, since so many of them were permanently stationed in Konoha as part of the police force.

"Cool." She turned to the feral looking Hana at her side. "Are you Hana?" The dog growled in response. Gerumaru was the slowest to pick up on human language and could not speak even in Hana's form.

"Here." Hana called from where she was picking up the discarded weeds and putting them into garbage bags.

"D'you wanna come to Naruto-chan's birthday party? It'll be pretty small and you don't have to stay for long."

"Sure. When?"

"Tomorrow at two. You can bring the Haimaru brothers."

"We'll be there."

* * *

Itachi arrived ten minutes earlier than he was supposed to with a birthday present held in his hands. Shizune greeted him at the door and gestured him towards the living room. "Sorry, sorry, we're still setting things up." She said with an apologetic smile.

'Setting things up' did not refer to the birthday streamers or balloons that he had expected, but rather towards the seals that were being set up all around the house by a tall man whom Itachi recognized as the Toad Sage Jiraiya. Sayori was helping him, and she nodded at Itachi when she spotted him. "Hello Itachi-kun, you're early."

"I apologize if my timing has disrupted anything." Itachi responded politely.

"No, we're just setting up the protections for the house for the festival, we should be done soon." Sayori said before glancing up irritably at Jiraiya. "We should have been done earlier but _somebody_ was too busy peeping at the onsen down the street to care about the protection of his godchild."

Jiraiya huffed. "As if you would understand the allure of a beautiful-"

"That onsen is quite popular with the Uchiha members of the police force." Itachi said, three tomoe spinning lazily around his crimson eyes. "I certainly hope you weren't doing anything untoward, Jiraiya-sama."

"Untoward? Me? You must be mistaken kid, I would never violate the privacy of Konoha's womenfolk like that. I'm a gentleman!" Itachi blinked at being called 'kid'. Nobody ever called him by anything but his name.

Sayori snickered at the sight of Jiraiya panicking. "Is all of this really necessary?" Itachi asked. "I was not aware that assassination attempts on your life were common Sayori-chan."

She shrugged. "They happen, normally when Mom's away on a mission or working overtime at the hospital. Once a guy slipped past the ANBU and made it into my bedroom but Shizune poisoned him before he could do anything." She spoke of the attempt on her life so casually that Itachi blinked again in surprise.

He could have said something to comfort her about the attempt, or reassure her of her safety. Instead he said, "I have heard of Shizune-san's skill with poisons. It was lucky indeed that she was here to protect you and Naruto-chan."

A strange look passed across her face but before she could answer him the doorbell rang again. Shizune answered it again but before she could properly greet Hana, Shiromaru, the most intelligent and inquisitive of the brothers, spoke up.

"What happened to your fa- ow why'd you bite me?" The puppy and his more considerate sibling broke into a quarrel, and tiny yips filled the air.

"I was scarred in a battle with the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist." Shizune answered politely before Hana could apologize for the actions of her ninken. "Itachi-kun and Sayori-chan are already in the living room."

Hana and three quarrelling puppies entered the living room and Naruto poked his head over the edge of his playpen and shrieked "Puppy!" So loudly that Itachi was fairly certain it could be heard on the street.

"Not puppy Naruto-chan, ninken. They're not for playing with." Sayori scolded as Jiraiya finally finished the seals. They glowed with a violet light, briefly illuminating the room before fading away completely. She noticed Hana and asked, "Why'd you bring two presents?"

"Shiromaru." Hana's conversations were often monosyballic, especially when around strangers but she was forced to clarify when Sayori's expression did not change. "He wanted to get Naruto-chan a present too."

"Oh. Well, thanks Shiromaru. Say thank you Naruto-chan."

"Thank you puppy!" Shiromaru growled at being called a puppy and was once again nipped by his brother as punishment.

Naruto, once let out of his playpen, proved to be a loud, energetic and boisterous child, completely unlike his own brother Sasuke, who was even-tempered and quiet. After half an hour of taking care of the lively boy, Itachi was ready to leave. After two hours, Itachi was seriously reconsidering his plans to have children. They exchanged presents, Itachi's toy shuriken had been well-received, as had Shiromaru's monkey shaped chew toy ("Human puppies love chew toys." He'd said smugly), played children's games that neither Itachi nor Sayori nor Hana had ever been exposed to before, watched television, ate cake and as the festivities died down were sitting on the floor around a slightly tipsy Jiraiya as he was describing his battle with the legendary Taki ninja Hikaru and his dragonfly summons while Naruto played with the building blocks Hana had bought him and Shizune cleaned up. Normally Itachi would have offered to help her but he was too engrossed in the tale of how Jiraiya had summoned Gamabunta for the first time to do so.

The sannin was a good storyteller and he'd just gotten to the point where Hikaru had tried to escape into the air on the back of a dragonfly summon and he and Gamabunta had given chase, jumping so high that Jiraiya could feel the moisture of the clouds on his cheek when a rock smashed through the living room window. Itachi jumped to his feet immediately, activating his Sharingan and drawing several poisoned senbon as he and his teammates surrounded Naruto, ready to ward off attack. Jiraiya had been faster, however, and he signaled the to stand down almost as soon as they'd gotten up.

"I told you guys not to bring any weapons." Sayori complained as she sheathed her kunai. Naruto was clinging to her leg. "This is a birthday party."

Hana reluctantly shifted back into her regular form, her nails returning to their normal shape, and the Haimaru brothers released their jutsu to do the same. Itachi deactivated his Sharingan and sheathed his poisoned senbon. "Force of habit. I apologize."

Outside, the festival was starting and there were too many people on the busy street to see who'd thrown the rock. Shizune had apparently had a better view than them because she'd grabbed two teenage boys by the throat and was hauling them back to the house. Itachi heard one of them babbling pleas about not making him go near the demon and Shizune's fingers tightened around his throat in response. Two figures in white porcelain masks dropped down and grabbed the boys before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Somehow I think Ibiki won't get anything out of them." Jiraiya said, though there was not much humour in his voice.

"Our bodyguards should be sent to Ibiki instead." Shizune fumed. "If they can't even control two teenage boys how are they supposed to control the real threats?"

"Sorry kids but it looks like the party's been cut short." Jiraiya said. "Enjoy the festival."

"I see. Thank you for your hospitality. Happy birthday Naruto-chan." Itachi inclined his head slightly towards Naruto and set off towards the door when he was stopped by Hana's hesitant voice.

"Wait." She looked supremely uncomfortable. "Would you like to come to the festival with me?"

"If it's okay with Shizune-nee-chan." Sayori responded.

"As long as you're back before midnight it's fine."

Hana looked relieved. "Itachi?"

He blinked. His father had not been happy about his excursion to the Senju household for a birthday party and would no doubt have told him to decline Hana's offer but his mother and Shisui-sensei had both been delighted and would have encouraged him to go with Hana and have fun. After a few moments of weighing the anger of his father against the quiet disappointment of his mother, he said. "My uncle is stationed two blocks from here. I will ask him to tell my parents where I've gone." He was curious as to why Hana had asked them to accompany her, and they would probably be shadowed by ANBU agents the entire time so it was safe.

As soon as Naruto realized they were leaving without him he burst into tears and thanks to the broken window they could hear him in the street.

"He's a bit of a crybaby." Sayori explained apologetically.

"I'm sure he'll grow out of it." Itachi said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone.

Most of those filling the streets kept away from the three of them as they traversed the winding dirt roads that made up this part of Konoha and soon Itachi recognized a familiar figure lounging up against a wall and watching the crowd with disinterested grey eyes similar to his own. "Eiji-ojisan I would appreciate it if you told my parents that I will be attending the festival with my teammates today."

"I'm not your messenger boy Itachi." Eiji responded, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it with a match.

Itachi knew how this was supposed to go. "Not even as a favour for your favourite nephew?"

"Favours imply a mutual transaction." Eiji said, his eyes alight with humour.

Itachi slumped his shoulders in mock defeat. "I'll water your bonsai for the next week."

"Done. Shake on it." As his small hand was engulfed by Eiji's larger one his uncle grinned and said, "It's good to see you making friends. Mikoto'll be happy."

Unsure what to make of that, Itachi was about to return to where his teammates waited when he noticed a dango stall mere meters away from him. Itachi's self-control was legendary but in the face of such marvels it disappeared entirely and he soon found himself waiting in line and wondering if dogs could eat dango. When he asked the stall owner, she laughed and said, "No but there's a barbeque stall right down the street if you want to get your dog something he can eat." He thanked her solemnly and bought six sticks, wondering at her informal manner. As he waited in line for the barbeque he realized why she had laughed at him. He was not wearing his headband, and she was located close enough to the police headquarters that she would not be intimidated by an Uchiha. She'd assumed he was a civilian child, and treated him like one. It was an interesting experience. He wondered absently how his teammates would react to being treated like civilian children.

As he carefully made his way back to where they waited, he found out. "What took you so long?" Sayori asked, rubbing her head. "Someone spotted me waiting for you and they patted me on the head and asked me where my mother was." She sounded so horrified by this simple interaction that Itachi had to smile, and he wordlessly offered her two dango sticks, one hazelnut, one anko. "Oh, thanks. I'll pay you back."

Itachi interrupted her as she started rummaging in her pockets for money. "There is no need. It is normal for friends to buy one another small gifts on occasion." He passed some dango to Hana and then distributed three kebabs among the brothers. "I have observed such behavior before, among Shisui-sensei and his friends."

"Oh. Okay." They stood together in silence as they ate their dango and watched the crowd.

"What do you want to do?" Hana asked. She was still nervous, her entire body taught and tense.

"I dunno, never been to one of these things before." Sayori responded, her mouth full.

"Perhaps we should walk to the main square and see what entertainments they have set up there." Itachi glanced at the darkening sky. "The fireworks will not go off until later."

As it turned out, there was no need to go to the main square to find entertainment. Small games booths and even a kabuki theatre troupe had set themselves up along Konoha's main roads and by the time they finally reached the main square, each of them was weighed down with the prizes they had won along the way. Even Itachi had started to buy into the festival atmosphere, a small smile on his lips as he surveyed the prizes he had won for Sasuke, but Hana had not relaxed at all.

"Hana-chan, you know you're not our bodyguard right, you can smile or something. We're supposed to be having fun." Sayori was licking the remnants of ice cream off of her fingers as she said this.

Hana shrugged. "Sorry. It's noisy and there are too many people."

"If you are suffering from sensory overload we can leave." Itachi offered. It would not be the first time they had left an area because Hana could not deal with the multitude of scents and sounds. Normally her tolerance would have been built up as her skills did, but Hana's senses had completely surpassed the average Inuzuka genin when she was only six, leaving no time for her mind to catch up to her body.

"No I'll b-" She threw herself into Sayori, sending them both sprawling, and a handful of shuriken hit the civilians moving where Sayori had once been standing, with the exception of a large one armed man who deflected them with a speed that could only be chakra enhanced. Cursing himself for becoming complacent, Itachi activated his Sharingan and moved in front of his teammates, who were rapidly getting to their feet. He saw the second barrage before it hit and easily deflected them as the civilians scattered and the one armed man brutally wrestled one of the assailants to the ground. He wasn't large enough or fast enough to get them all though and Gerumaru yelped with pain as one buried itself in his side.

"Gerumaru!" Hana yelled, abandoning formation and running to her injured ninken.

This time, Itachi had been ready. His three tomoe whirling, he launched a senbon in the assailants direction, watching with satisfaction, then horror, as it was buried in the young woman's throat. She fell to the ground, writhing in pain as the fast-acting poison was carried through her body. She started to spasm uncontrollably and Itachi watched her wide-eyed, not moving when a police officer called his name, not moving when Sayori grabbed his shoulder, not moving until a familiar figure knelt by her and removed the senbon with practiced hands.

"Shisui-sensei, Gerumaru's hurt!" Hana's voice was frantic and her hands were flickering with healing chakra as she desperately tried to stem the blood that flowed from the wound and dyed his fur red.

"Akira, we've got an injured ninken. Stabilize him and then transport him to the veterinary hospital as soon as possible. You five will go with him, the hospital is well-guarded. Hikari-" As he gave out orders to his subordinates, Itachi was only aware of the woman he had hit being carried away on a stretcher, until Sayori grabbed his arm and Haimaru nipped his ankle.

"Come on, Gerumaru's being moved." They travelled swiftly over the rooftops until they reached a large, squat building. As they entered it, part of him was astounded at the sheer number and variety of animals waiting with their partners for treatment. The rest of him was slowly playing the scene he had just witnessed over and over in his head, the screaming civilians, the bleeding ninken, the ease with which he'd thrown the senbon into their attackers throat. He might have killed her. He might have killed her and that was all he could think about as he stared down at the floor with dark grey eyes.

* * *

Shisui was not angry at ANBU for choosing not to send a squad with his students as they traversed Konoha on the night of the festival. They were stretched thin as it was, understaffed and overworked on the most hectic night of the year. No, he was not angry with them, or with Jiraiya for not protecting them, or with himself for not being there. He was _furious_ and he did not bother to mask his emotions as he walked into the veterinary hospital where his students waited. Sayori was trying to coax a non-responsive Itachi into one of the hard plastic seats, but whipped around when she sensed him. "I'm sorry." She stammered. "I should have been watching and I wasn't. I'm sorry." Hana was sitting already, Haimaru and Shiromaru curled up at her feet. She was crying and that more than anything helped Shisui put a lid on his emotions and calm himself down.

"I'm not angry at any of you." He explained gently. "I'm angry at the people who attacked you. Sit down, both of you." Sayori obediently took a seat, dragging Itachi with her. "Tsume-san, Shizune-san and Mikoto-obasan should be here soon." Mikoto was not much older than him and wasn't his aunt but he slipped into the informal title without realizing it. "Fugaku-sama is already with the suspects, interrogating them." Sayori relaxed, Itachi did not. "The one you poisoned will live, Itachi-kun."

The boy turned his face up, matching Shisui's crimson gaze with his own grey one. "It was so easy." He whispered, his voice shaking and Shisui cursed himself even more because Itachi never whispered and his voice should never shake like that. "It was so easy and I felt _joy_ when it hit, even though I knew it could have killed her."

"You were protecting your teammates and you were afraid. The adrenaline rush and the endorphins were what made you feel good when you hit her. It happens to everybody. You're not a monster for feeling that way." He said gently, but that didn't seem to comfort Itachi at all.

"You protected us." Sayori said suddenly, seizing his hand. "If you hadn't been there, we'd all be in the hospital. You didn't do anything wrong." Itachi took a deep breath and tried to compose himself, his fingers tightening around Sayori's. "You didn't do anything wrong." She repeated fiercely, as though by telling him that she could make him believe it.

Itachi pulled his hand out of hers. "Yes. I know." His voice was not entirely steady but he wasn't whispering any more.

Shisui turned to Hana. "Hana, Gerumaru will be fine. Akira said you closed off the major blood vessels just in time. The vets here are incredible, I've seen them heal much worse than what he got."

"I'm supposed to protect him." She was clawing at her hair. "I'm supposed to protect him and I didn't." Her tears were gone but Shisui recognized the self-loathing in her voice.

"Next time, you will." He should have been able to tell her more but a black dog with its hind leg in a cast shoved him aide and licked Hana's face.

"Stop it." The dogs voice was firm but not unkind. "When your teammates needed you, you went to them, and Gerumaru is not so pathetic that he needs your protection every hour of the day. He knew the risks and he was injured. Speak to him when he comes out before you start assigning blame." Shisui recognized Kuromaru, Tsume's partner, and the dog turned its head towards him. "Tsume is close, with Uchiha-sama behind."

"Thank you, Kuromaru-san." Kuromaru grunted and turned back towards Hana.

He didn't have long to wait before the door burst open and Tsume Inuzuka strode in. She spared him only an angry glance before kneeling by her daughters side and starting a quiet, mostly one sided conversation with her. Apparently satisfied with what Hana had said, she rose to her feet and was about to confront him when Mikoto appeared at Itachi's side. "I would appreciate it if you did not confront Shisui-san until I have spoken with my son." The formal honorific told him that Mikoto was just as furious with him as Tsume appeared to be. After a few moments quiet whispering, Mikoto left Itachi's side and led him, Tsume and Kuromaru into an unoccupied room. Her hands flashed through a series of signs and she cast a sound altering genjutsu. Anyone attempting to listen at the door would hear only a fragmented buzz of unintelligible conversation. "Now, I would like to know why my eight year old son was almost forced to kill someone today."

"I was an idiot. I'd dispatched a team to watch over the Senju residence on the tenth and when they informed me that my students were leaving to enjoy the festival I didn't think they were in enough danger to warrant pulling one of my teams out to watch them. Apparently ANBU thought the same." He ran his hands through his hair as Shizune entered the room. "I was an idiot, and if Sota Akimichi hadn't been in the crowd they might have been killed." Sota was a crippled war veteran who had dispatched the first attacker by breaking the mans arms and legs.

"Shisui-san, the Hokage wishes to see you right away." Shizune was slightly breathless and her scarred face was even paler than usual.

"Shit." Tsume said, gazing at Shizune. "What the fuck happened to you and why aren't you in a hospital?"

"They weren't alone, the attackers, and I'm fine. The Hokage wants to see Shisui-san right away." She winced and put a hand on her stomach. "Jiraiya-san is with Naruto, I'll stay here to protect Sayori."

"Nobody with a gut wound is fucking fine." Tsume replied. "I don't care if you are Tsunade-sama's apprentice, you're getting to the hospital right away. Mikoto-san and me can take the kids to the Inuzuka compound, they'll be safe there."

As Shizune protested and Tsume argued, Shisui performed a shunshin that left him at the foot of the Hokage's tower. Without needing to be asked, a clerk led him up the spiral staircase and towards the Hokage's office. As always, the first thing that struck him when he entered the room was the overpowering smell of tobacco. He bowed to the Third Hokage and waited for him to speak.

"Shisui-san, you may rise. I've brought you here to discuss the joint attacks upon Naruto Uzumaki and Sayori Senju."

"With your permission, Hokage-sama, I would like to arrange a joint investigation between ANBU and the police force."

"I'm afraid that will not be possible." The Hokage tapped the ashes out of his pipe with methodical fingers. His eyes were grim. "The four ANBU agents I assigned to protect the Senju household were all found dead, with no signs of battle. They did not even unsheathe their swords. The police squad you assigned to watch the house met with the same fate. I have already assigned Danzo Shimura to the investigation of this matter." He raised a hand to still Shisui's protests. "The investigation into Root has also been halted. I fear a grave breach to our internal security and there is nobody better than Danzo at getting to the heart of such matters, regardless of how repugnant his methods may be." He no longer trusted the police force. Why?

"Then why did you send for me, Hokage-sama?" He asked instead.

"You and your team will be leaving on a mission to Sunagakure tomorrow morning. The risk inside Konoha is too great and our resources are stretched too thin to adequately protect both Naruto-chan and Sayori-chan." The Kyuubi was worth more to the village than Sayori ever would be, and that realization twisted his gut. "It will take four weeks, by then we should have neutralized the threat to our safety. If we have not, a suitable excuse will be arranged for you to spend more time in the desert. You are one of the few ninja capable of protecting your team from threats alone and the only one who will not arouse suspicion when I send you. To the Kazekage, it will look like a sign of weakness to send such young shinobi on a C-rank and he is too arrogant to investigate further, but is required by our treaty to protect you."

Shisui waited for a few moments before he could trust himself to speak. "What is the mission Hokage-sama?" He and his team had just been sent out to serve as bait, a red herring that would draw traitors away from Konoha and towards a foreign land. Fury was rising in his heart again and Shisui ruthlessly pushed it down.

"You will be transporting a peculiar mineral from Otafuku Gai to Sunagakure and then guarding it while it is installed in the karez. The client is a member of the Ishitaira family. If necessary you may leave Gerumaru behind."

"I see." Shisui's rage was cold now and it filled his heart with ice. "I should tell them now, so that they can start preparing for the trip." The Hokage nodded and he left the room, his fists clenched at his sides.

He would not let his students die on this expedition, no matter how worthless the Hokage deemed them.

* * *

AN: And Sayori's inferiority complex blooms and Shisui's anger towards the Hokage is presented for the first time. A karez, or qanat, is an underground irrigation system invented by the Iranians. It is a series of gently sloping underground tunnels that may stretch thousands of kilometers.


End file.
